Stage and display device



.Dec. 16, 194i. M. K. SHIPMAN STAGE AND DISPLAY DEVICE Filed Aug. 28,1939 BY fiM, 6M

ATTORNEY.

Patented Dec. 16, 1941 r r UNITED s'rrss ()"TFFIIC'EI STAGE ANn i ffzAYflEvlfifi Application August 28, 1939; seri l-No;2923232 In AustraliaNove'mber 10,1938

- 7 Claims.- (C10272 13) My invention is concerned with stage and dis-.sibl e'posi tions df thiriirr'orai. e., the'-angle 'beplay efiectsproduced by mirrors and, more partween 'themi-rr'or' i when-turned asfar as pos. ticularly, with devices of this nature in which thesiblecontra clockwise' ar-id themirror '2" when matter presented to theview of an observer can turned as far as possible clockwise, and by nthe be promptly changed in substance or in the ar- 5 "number of"compartments; the angle of the V rangement of details.'must-not-eXceiid The main object of all devices of this class is p a tocreate the optical illusion of a Kaleidoscopic multiplication of 'objects'by reflection and re- 1 reflection in the mirrors, as isdisclosedjin y 10 'Atthesemetimefto obtaina uniform and sym- AustralianPatents N 12,916, 13,092 and metrical reflection throughout; the angleor the all of 1908. One of the spec fi Objects of the vinust -beadivisor-of 30l" For example, if the present invention is to diversifythe kaleidoscopic axis 4-'4'is '"inthe "Wall 20, itself; the angle aefiect by a sectionalarrangement of the device, i 'equal to 'ISO'Thearigle'of the'V, therefore, onlyvone of the sections being exposed toview, 15 "rnust'not-fexceed 'f ifl for'a two compartmentset the othersections undergoing changes in the up. 1 'It may be'ex'actlythatfSin'ceGO 'is a divisor meantime, and bringing the several sectionsinto of""360." If smarter bf oompartments is 3, view, s eri'atirn'.Another object s to Pe this the-angle oft/he V may 1 80-divided by 5, i.e. diversification of eiTect Without unduly increas- 36 ,"w'hicha1s'0is""a viso'r f""360 s js ing the space 'occupied by the'device.A-iu'rther nowfthat' the lihe s"avvay'fr6m the back object is to combineunch'angeablefeatures of wallto the-short d m which the angle a thepresentation in one part of the device with is 200. In'this' case theangle'ofthe'VTor-atwo transient features in another part. Still anotherompartmentsetup 'ust-notexceed'fzilfi" divided object is 'to producenovel effects by movable by 3, i."e.,' 66* and /3 degrees; :The maximumslides under 'a "transparent portion of the floorgl fthe V,thereforefagejin is-"GO this'beirrg companying drawing.

in Other 'obiec swillbec m pparent fr m the nearesthumber to team /3which is a dithe'specification which follows and from the 'acvisor of360": Forthe same position of the axis 7 4-i-4jb1lfia three-compartment'Sfillpftfie fOf- Inthe drawing, Figur 1 i a p an v ew of a'mula"'shows'"thit the ar'rgle"offlthV"must not preferred" embodiment ofthe invention. Figure exceed20 0" divided by=5,v or-40',:and{this angle"2 is a front elevation of the same embodiment. is acceptable"boajiise'lii is-"adivisor of 360.

Figures 3, 4 and 5 are plan views of devices em- "Naturallyj th clo s'erthe line 4-4 is to the v g' certain modifications of theinventionback'wall fi ilf the"less hed the depth of the sta'ge Fi u is a detail, ing across section of or enclosure"! be: However, if it 'is desired to Figure5 taken along the'line S- -E. V make a greate r'numberhf"changespdssible with- R f r w t u 's' l a d the horiout requiring'toomuch spao'e'f the arrangement dntal p -,9 s a s t of a circle ashown ihFi-gure' inraybe adopted. In'thi's case, 'tatable about thevertical axis e 4. The veronly a part of thehorizontalplatform,namely,tic'al mirrors 2, 2', 2","on the platform 9 meet the platform isrotatabI ,-"but*the mirrors'can along the line 4-4 andare arranged toform 40 make a corhpleteturn of 360 degrees, and the two compartments ofV-sha'ped cross section. number of available compartments'is much Theremay, ofcourse, be more than three mirrorsan'd a correspondingly largernumber of compartments, 'althoughonly threemirrorsare pcrm,-|"o,-*isstationar and shown in the drawing for the purpose ofillus- "preferably;althoughnothecessarily,hushjwith r e t angles of theVs be the. the platform l4. Two verticaljmirro'rsdi, "l2", same for allthe compartments. The axis 44, ntneplatformilll "scfangularly disposedthat greater, eight bing shown Figure '4, formed "as shown, 'is close tothe back wallZfi andm'ay they form-continuatrons'ofth mirrors I3, I3",

be in the wall itself. .As is explained farther when theses-reinthepositionshowm'i.e.,facbelow,the proximity of the line 4 to the backmg the frbh'talfopii ing 5.

wall'20 determines how much savingma'y be ofcourse,thesame-arrangements:mirrorsas efiected in the space required for the installai shown'inFigure-1 fmay"b ad0'pted far "th iticn of the device. In the case wherethe angle case when onlya "portion 'oftheplatform' is roofthe V isthesame for all "of the compartments, 'tatable, fsuchfan arrangementbeing. shown in denoting by a the angle'between the extreme pos- IFigure 3. While the "latter arrangement saves nothing in depth, ascompared with the arrangement shown in Figure 1, it saves lateral spaceand, in addition, permits to combine a nonchangeable presentation (onplatform ill) with a transient presentation (on platform II).

In Figure 5, the device is similar to the one illustrated in Figure 3,the only difference being in the addition of a transparent section IS inthe platform l0, flush therewith, and of one or more slides (two suchslides, I1 and I 8, being shown in the drawing) movable under thesection It and supported by slats l9.

Only a brief description of the operation of the device is necessary. Itis to be. understood that in all cases the requisiteillumination isprovided. Illuminating means are not shown be-' cause they constitute nopart of the present in- 1 vention, and it is assumed that standardmethods are used.

The operation in the case of Figures 1, 2, will now be explained. Tosimplify the discussion, a compartment of and between two mirrors 2 and2 will be denoted-by the symbol (2, 2'); one between mirrors 2 and 2" by(2', 2"), and so on. Before the mirrors assumed the position shown inFigure 1, the compartment (2, 2") was facing the frontal opening 5, andan observer received the familiar optical illusion of a multiplicationof whatever objects, stationary or moving, were arranged within thiscompartment. Then, for the period of but a few seconds, a curtain (notshown, this being a well understood detail) is drawn over the opening 5,the platform 9 is turned clockwise until the compartment (2', 2) facesthe opening 5 (which is the position shown in the drawing), and thecurtain is again drawn away from the opening 5. While the compartment(2', 2") was facing the opening 5, the contents of the compartment (2,2) were changed or rearranged, so that the observer sees an entirely newillusion made up of a new set up and of its reflections.

As was stated in describing Figure 1, the V angles of the twocompartments need not be the same. The difference in the area of visioncaused by the difference in the angles of the VS is properly taken careof by drawing the curtains closer or farther apart, so that in everycase only one compartment is open to view. The mirrors 2, 2, 2", etc.,are, of course, double mirrors, i. e. both sides of each mirror arereflecting surfaces. As explained before, there may be more than twocompartments. When, for instance, there are three, changes may beeffected in two of them while the third one is open to view. Thus, byswingingthe platform 9 back and forth, a continually changingpresentation is produced, the compartments which are not in viewundergoing changes while only one of the compartments remains in sightof the observer.

The preceding discussion obviously applies also to Fig. 3, the onlydifference being that various changeable presentations are combined witha non-changeable presentation arranged on the stationary platform ID.

As to Fig. 4, here the number of presentations subject to possiblechanges is much greater. Specifically, in Fig. 4, there are eightcompartments of 45 each (a larger number of compartments is, of course,possible, but usually an angle of less than45 is not practical). In thistype of the invention, differentiation is relied upon the fact thatthere are numerous different presentations available withoutthenecessity of changing the contents of any one of the compartments.

Coming now to the last illustration, Figs. 5 and 6, the operation issimilar to the one described in connection with Fig. 3, with thefollowing addition: by moving colored or variegated slides, such asslides l1, l8, under the transparent section l6 of the platform l0, backand forth, in opposite directions, various illusions are created, such,for instance, as a rippling brook. A human figure dancing on top of thesection l6 would thus appear to be dancing on the surface of water. Theslides, obviously, could be operated equally well under a transparentsection of the rotatable platform ll.

Many other variations within the scope of the invention will readilysuggest themselves to those skilled in the art, and it is to beunderstood that the embodiments described here are intended only asillustrations and examples.

I claim:

1. In a stage or display device, an enclosure having a frontal openingand a back wall, a horizontal platform within said enclosure, and aplurality of mirrors on said platform meeting along a vertical linedisposed close to said back wall and forming compartments of V-shapedcross section in a portion of the angular space available about saidvertical line within said enclosure, said platform and mirrors beingjointly rotatable about said vertical line, whereby at least one of saidcompartments may be moved into the remaining portion of said angularspace, and said frontal opening giving a full view of one of saidcompartments only.

2. In a stage or display device, an enclosure having a frontal openingand a back wall, a horizontal platform within said enclosure, and aplurality of mirrors on said platform meeting along a vetrical linedisposed close to said back wall and forming compartments of the sameV-shaped cross section in a portion of the angular space available aboutsaid vertical line within said enclosure, said platform and mirrorsbeing jointly rotatable about said vertical line, whereby at least oneof said compartments may be moved into the remaining portion of saidangular space, and said frontal openinggiving a full view of one of saidcompartments only.

3. In a stage or display device, an enclosure having a frontal openingand a back wall, a horizontal platform within said enclosure, aplurality of mirrors on said platform meeting along a vertical linedisposed close to said back wall and forming compartments of the same V-shaped cross section in a portion of the angular space available aboutsaid vertical line within said enclosure, said platform and mirrorsbeing jointly rotatable about said vertical line, whereby at least oneof said compartments may be moved into the remaining portion of saidangular space, a stationary horizontal platform within said enclosureforming an extension of said rotatable platform, and two stationaryvertical mirrors angularly disposed on said extension platform to beflush with. and form continuations of the mirrors of any one of saidcompartments when in position facing said frontal opening.

4. In a stage or display device, an enclosure having a frontal openingand. a back wall, a horizontal platform Within said enclosure, and aplurality of mirrors on said platform meeting along a vertical linedisposed close to said back wall and forming compartments of the sameV-shaped cross section in a portion of the angular space available aboutsaid vertical line within said enclosure, said platform and mirrorsbeing jointly rotatable about said vertical line, whereby at least oneof said compartments may be moved into' the remaining portion of saidangular space, said frontal opening giving a full view of one of saidcompartments only, and the angle of said V-shaped cross section being adivisor of 360 but not exceeding where a is the angle between theextreme possible positions of said mirrors and n is the number of saidcompartments.

5. In a stage or display device, an enclosure having a frontal openingand a back wall, a horizontal platform within said enclosure, a pluwherea is the angle between the extreme possible positions of said mirrorsand n is the number of said compartments, a stationary horizontalplatform within said enclosure forming an extension of said rotatableplatform and flush therewith, and two stationary vertical mirrorsangularly disposed on said extension platform to be flush with and formcontinuationsof the mirrors of any one of said compartments when inposition facing said frontal opening.

6. In a stage or display device, an enclosure having a frontal opening,a horizontal platform within said enclosure, a plurality of mirrors onsaid platform meeting along a vertical line and forming compartments ofthe same V-shaped cross section in a portion'of the angular spaceavailable about said vertical line within said enclosure, said platformand mirrors being jointly rotatable about said vertical line, whereby atleast one of said compartments may be moved into the remaining portionof said angular space, a stationary horizontal platform within saidenclosure forming an extension of said rotatable platform, twostationary vertical mirrors angularly disposed on said stationaryplatform to be flush with and form continuations of the mirrors of anyone of said compartments when in position facing said frontal opening, atransparent section in and flush with said stationary platform, and amovable slide under said transparent section.

7. In a stage or display device, an enclosure having a frontal opening,a horizontal platform within said enclosure, a plurality of mirrors onsaid platform meeting along a vertical line and forming compartments ofthe same V-shaped cross section in a portion of the angular spaceavailable about said Vertical line within said enclosure, said platformand mirrors being joint- 1y rotatable about said. vertical line, wherebyat least one of said compartments may be moved into the remainingportion of said angular space, a stationary horizontal platform withinsaid enclosure fiush with said rotatable platform, said two platformsforming a continuous flooring, two stationary vertical mirrors angularlydisposed on said stationary platform to be flush with and formcontinuations of the mirrors of any one of said compartments when inposition facing said frontal opening, a transparent section in saidflooring flush therewith, and a movable slide under said transparentsection.

M LD ED KNA PP

